The matrix

To the Editor:

A matrix has been created in this country just like in the movie by that name. It’s been created by corporate-owned, Republican-friendly, conservative media outlets that rival the old Soviet state-controlled media of the past.

They misrepresent, distort and outright lie about what President Barack Obama, Democrats, liberals and progressives believe or want to do. In much of the country, it’s all people get to hear. It’s why there are so many misinformed and hateful voters.

Take the stimulus. They routinely talk about a trillion dollars’ worth of spending. It was $787 billion, and $299 billion of that was actually the biggest tax cut for middle-class Americans ever. Bet most Americans didn’t even know about it.

They call it “Obamacare.” The Affordable Care Act actually was the brainchild of two corporate Democrats from the Senate Finance Committee, and most likely their corporate sponsors, and differs in big ways from what Obama and the six other Democratic bills in the House and Senate wanted. The individual mandate was originally from the Heritage Foundation, designed to prevent free riders.

Now Romney says Obama took work out of welfare. A lie, but Republicans repeat it, and millions believe it. Doesn’t having the capital gains tax at 15 percent discourage people like Romney from working to build businesses and create jobs? Isn’t it welfare for the rich? Why earn millions by working and have to pay 35 percent? And wouldn’t eliminating it altogether encourage him and others to work even less and outsource more?